Quotes from Bob Woodward

Mattis was a student of historian Barbara Tuchman's book The Guns of August about the outbreak of World War I. "He's obsessed with August 1914," one official said, "and the idea that you take actions, military actions, that are seen as prudent planning, and the unintended consequences are you can't get off the war train." A momentum to war builds, "and you just can't stop it.

Biden's grandson Robert "Hunter" Biden II handed him a photo taken of the two of them at his father, Beau's, funeral. He was then nine years old, and Biden had bent down to comfort him with his hand cupping the boy's chin. Corners of the right wing online had lit up with wild allegations about Biden's gesture, suggesting Biden was a pedophile. The younger Biden told his grandfather he knew a campaign could be nasty.

What's debating Biden going to be like? I asked. "I think he did at least even against Bernie," Trump said. "I was surprised that he was able to get through that debate. And he didn't win it but he didn't lose it. You know, it was a pretty even debate. And you know, I was surprised. So you never know what happens.

Barr paused and delivered his summary line: "They just think you're a fucking asshole.

One hundred percent said, I'll vote for the guy I don't like, but like his policies. One thousand to zero.

The news conference "accelerated the beginning of the end." Trump shrugged off calls of concern. "Yeah," Trump told advisers, speaking about Giuliani, "he's crazy. He says crazy shit. I get it. But none of the sane lawyers can represent me because they've been pressured. The actual lawyers have been told they cannot represent my campaign.

This is my megaphone," Trump said again. "Let's not call it Twitter. Let's call it social media." Though the White House had Facebook and Instagram accounts, Trump did not use them. He stuck to Twitter. "This is who I am. This is how I communicate. It's the reason I got elected. It's the reason that I'm successful.

Do you know why Tillerson was able to say he didn't call the president a 'moron'?" McConnell would dryly ask colleagues in his Kentucky drawl. "Because he called him a 'fucking moron.

If we don't win in 2022, we're screwed.

I think we could be so rich," Trump said, "if we weren't stupid. We're being played [as] suckers, especially NATO." Collective defense was a sucker play.

But overlooked was that Trump had a way of appearing to strengthen his own hand by creating a situation, often risky, that did not previously exist. Threatening the volatile North Korean regime with nuclear weapons was unthinkable, but he had done it. It turned out to be only the beginning. The go-along, get-along presidency of the past was over.

I think people are smart enough to sort it out. They know when they're watching one of these food fight shows where journalists sit around and yell and scream at each other, versus serious issue reporting.

There is a garbage culture out there, where we pour garbage on people. Then the pollsters run around and take a poll and say, do you smell anything?

The central dilemma in journalism is that you don't know what you don't know.

The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.

Finally, the president added, 'The American people are idealists, but they also want their leaders to be realistic...'

If you interviewed 1,000 politicians and asked about whether the media's too soft or too hard, about 999 would say too hard.

Certain political figures think when you call them and ask them for a comment; that you are somehow doing something that you shouldn't be doing.

I deal with first-hand sources. And give the people, even John Sununu, the opportunity to respond to what I've been told by first-hand sources.

After Nixon resigned in 1974, he engaged in a very aggressive war with history, attempting to wipe out the Watergate stain and memory. Happily, history won, largely because of Nixon's tapes.

I have written things that Republicans and Democrats and all kinds of figures have either hated or felt very uncomfortable about. Because in doing these long projects and books, you get close to the bone. And they're not calling me up and asking me for dinner.

In Haig's presence, Kissinger referred pointedly to military men as "dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy.

It was accountability that Nixon feared.

Nixon's grand mistake was his failure to understand that Americans are forgiving, and if he had admitted error early and apologized to the country, he would have escaped.